‘1776’ opens at Playhouse

It may not be “Hamilton,” but the patriotic musical about the American Revolution running through July 12 at the Theatre 605 Black Hills Playhouse will leave you equally awed by the flawed but phenomenal humans who birthed a new nation 250 years ago.
Director Dan Workman’s version of “1776,” a Broadway musical about the creation of the Declaration of Independence, trades an all-white, mostly male cast of Founding Fathers for one that incorporates a diversity of race and gender through color-blind casting and gender-defying role assignments for many of the 19 actors who bring 27 different characters to life.  There’s not a weak link in the lot. 
You view it all on a stage framed with an oversized parchment of America’s most famous founding document, created by scenic designer Fallon Podrazik. She cuts a stage-sized window into the Declaration of Independence that transports you back to the hot, humid summer of 1776 in Philadelphia where proponents of independence wage a political battle while Gen. George Washington fights a seemingly hopeless military battle against the British.   
Three talented newcomers to the BHP stage lead this large cast. Bryan Curtis plays John Adams as the chief architect of American independence who seems disliked by nearly everyone but his wife.  Dave DeChristopher plays Benjamin Franklin, the wise and witty sage of the Second Continental Congress tasked with keeping Adams’ obnoxious personality in check. Erik K. Larsen, who looks as if he was sent straight out of central casting to portray a young Thomas Jefferson, would rather be wooing his pretty wife than writing America’s Declaration of Independence.  
Curtis is a large, booming presence on stage, and his voice, too, is more than a match for the entire Congress in the musical’s opening number, “Sit Down, John.”  “1776” lacks many signature songs, but this one is the precursor to an iconic line echoed in the hit musical “Hamilton” decades later. 
As Franklin, DeChristopher gets some of the play’s best humorous lines to work with, and his droll delivery is a delight to watch. 
For pure high-energy humor, Skyler Weaver, playing Virginian Founding Father Richard Henry Lee, stole the show with his song and dance number “The Lees of Old Virginia,” choreographed by Katie Gutmann. I found the understated acting Weaver then brought to his portrayal of New Jersey delegate the Rev. John Witherspoon all the more impressive when my 13-year-old theater companion was astounded to later realize they were one and the same actor.   
The power of Workman’s casting choices hits hardest in Act II, though, when slave owner and South Carolina delegate Edward Rutledge, portrayed by Romell Johnson III who is Black, argues with Adams and Jefferson that the 500,000 enslaved Africans already living in America are “not people, they are property.” The irony of Johnson’s anger performing “Molasses to Rum,” a song that reveals the hypocrisy of New England shipowners over their involvement in the economics of slavery, is an intense piece of theater that is both wondrous and horrible to behold. 
As Workman says in his director’s note about casting women and people of color into these historical roles, “…we are not just making a stylistic choice; we are honoring the spirit of the revolution rather than the limitations of the era.” 
Costume Designer Amber Marisa Cook updates the colonial-era gentlemens’ clothing by using a lot of denim in the costumes, a material Cook sees as the quintessential fabric of the American worker, her nod to the hard work of independence, or perhaps to all the hardworking men – and women -  who were left out of the political process during America’s early years.   
I once had a job that required me to research the lives of each of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, so I may have brought more background to the play than the typical audience member. But even someone who has never heard the names of Caesar Rodney, a sickly man who rode 86 miles through the night to vote in favor of independence for Delaware, or Stephen Hopkins, a Rhode Island delegate known for his wit and his love of rum, will find “1776” an entertaining, and largely accurate, history lesson. The play’s humor, dialogue and song lyrics do an admirable job of condensing the years of hard work, political maneuvers and long odds that faced America’s Declaration of Independence.  
The American Revolution really is a miracle that almost didn’t happen.  Seeing “1776” is a great way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its beginning. 
The play runs through Sunday, July 12, with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. and matinees at 2 p.m.  For tickets, visit the
atre605.org